Open Letter to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
[NOTE: THIS OPEN LETTER IS POSTED AT MY WEBSITE AND IS BEING MADE AVAILABLE WIDELY TO THE MEDIA – IT MAY BE REPRODUCED FREELY WITH ATTRIBUTION] Dear Commissioner Riley and Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education: I am a professor in the public health program at the Tufts University School of Medicine and an epidemiologist who was trained in infectious disease outbreak response at CDC. I am writing to urge you to immediately allow schools to hold virtual classes for the next 2-3 weeks, or at least until the astronomical rate of increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Massachusetts subsides. Opening schools in-person at this time is going to be disastrous, both for our local communities and for the devastating situation that our hospitals are already facing. I hope you will consider allowing schools to implement a 2-3 week delay before forcing students to return to school in-person. The issue is not the safety of our students, or even of our staff. It is s